Monday, November 06, 2006

Did Sooners Cheat? You Betcha!

If you haven't figured it out by now, we're in a snarly mood today. Next on our list: The Oklahoma Sooners. We now have the evidence to prove that the Sooners cheated. First, let's explain what happened. Oklahoma was leading Texas A&M, 17-16, and the Sooners faced a fourth-and-one situation from their 29 with 1:29 left. Now rather than do the logical thing and punt, coach Bob Stoops went for the first down. This really got us on the edge of our seat, because failing to get the yard would mean the Aggies would get the ball in field goal range. Basically, a gift-wrapped victory. Now Stoops had to think twice about this. He called a timeout just before the Sooners snapped the ball on their first try. When his unit returned to the field, quarterback Paul Thompson ran a quarterback sneak and after being stopped initially, he "surged" forward to get the yard. However, Thompson got a little help on the play from his fullback, who shoved the quarterback ahead much like Reggie Bush did to Matt Leinart in USC's victory over Notre Dame last season, the famed "Bush Push" that we first reported here. When we heard there was a flag on the field, we initially thought that somebody was actually going to call an infraction on the Sooners. Turns out, the Aggies — famous for the 12th man — actually had 12 men on the field! How in the name of Dennis Franchione can you screw that up? ... But here is the rule once again about helping a runner, in case any officials happen to stop by today: Rule 9, Section 3, Article 2B states: "The runner shall not grasp a teammate; and no other player of his team shall grasp, push, lift or charge into him to assist him in forward progress." The penalty for such an infraction is five yards from the basic spot. We should have had offsetting penalties on the play. Also of note: Analyst Bob Davie even mentioned "the Bush Push" on the first fourth-down try, the no-play because Stoops called his timeout. As they say, it's only cheating if you get caught, and Stoops had his fullback push Thompson twice. The second time is even more blatant than the first.

in principle i agree, but it seems that you're going a bit overboard here.

how many times a game does a team break this rule and get away with it? tons. think of every time there's a rugby-scrum pile and the offensive players gain another 1-3 yards by pushing the whole pile forward. think of all the "bush pushes" that occurred before and since the USC-ND game last year.

it's a rule that is never enforced. never. so, let's just cut oklahoma some slack.

i'll give you a different topic to gripe about, if you so desire - wisconsin's deliberate offsides penalties before halftime against penn state. unsportsmanlike?discuss.

you're right, there was a push and a penalty should have been called...but it doesn't matter because of the 12th man...it's a dead play,Let's say they did throw a flag for pushing in the back, it would have been canceled because of the 12th man on D, so there's no point in complaining, besides they never call the push in the back (even though they should)

While in high school we got a touchdown erased because of a "push" by one of our lineman to help break a tackle, we were penalized and ended up losing the game...as a huge ND fan, I seemed to be the only one yelling for this penalty when Bush blatantly violated the rules...go figure, he cheated off-field and did so again on the field.

Your 'push' penalty is a judgement call where the 12 men on the field is clearly obvious;I'd say A&M was more likely cheating here...anyway, if you guys would have sacked up and not kicked field goals, you would have won AND that holding call on our wideout when Patrick scored on one of the most phenomenal runs I've seen was BULLSHIT!

If you think Stoops told his fullback to push the quarterback, how do you avoid making the same claim on the other side of the ball -- that Fran told a twelfth man to run onto the field to help with the stop?

By whatever logic you claim this to be some sort of indictment of Stoops it should weigh equally on Franchione.

If Coach Fran wasn't DUMB enough to kick another field goal with only 3:30 and 1 timout remaining, this would have never happened. The AD should have come out and fired him on the spot. 4th down and 5 and you kick a field goal down 4 with 3:30 and 1 timeout?

Completely biased and inaccurate headline. The word cheating implies that their was a decision by Stoops to violate the rules. In fact someone who writes about football for a living should understand the rules well enough to understand that with 12 men on the field, the actual play is moot.

Sooners win legally. If A&M doesn't have 12 men on the field and the same play results a flag might legitimately have been thrown. Doesn't mean the Sooners would have lost. Bob could have still gone for it and made it. He probably would have punted it and it is entirely possible, if not probable that the Sooner defense would have prevailed.

You must really have an agenda or were desperate for a sensationalist headline.

Your report that the Sooner's cheated is a skanky piece of reporting. The A&M team had 12 people on the field. It's simple, stupid. There was a block by the tail back for the QB but no penalty. 12 men on the field is a dead ball penatly and negates anything OU did after the snap. The penalties do not cancel each other out. Get a life..

i am an diehard aggie, raised an aggie, plan on being an aggie next fall, and will forever be an aggie just so yall know who this is coming from... i was also at the game, 20 rows off the field next to the ten yard line....

as disappointing as the loss to OU was, lets focus on the big picture for a moment:

Allan Patrick ran through the defense like shit through a goose in the first half, if our d clamps down on the running game in the 1ST HALF, we can handle a very mediocre QB in Paul Thompson

To the d's credit though, i saw glimpses of the old wrecking crew from the late 90's in the second half. they gave up 3 points in the second half which resulted from an INT that we through inside our 10, props to Darnell for sticking the run (although i oppose a 4-2-5)

i think we all know what the right call was on the 3rd and 2 from the 2 was, u have at least 5 guys (Lane, Alexander, Lewis, McGee, Goodson) who can get 6 points from 2 yards out and 2 downs to do it on, we pissed the game away when we kicked the first field goal, we played not to loose instead of playing to win, how many times will u get the ball on OU's 2 yard line, honsetly?

finally, Stoops is not a cheater. the bush push has probably happened so many times in situations like that. the o-line got the push and i think that thompson gets the inches anyway

if fran looses to nebraska next weekend, mind you he is a choke in november, he's toast, i love my aggies but boy that game was pissed away

In order for assisting the runner to be called it must be pretty blatant. I didn't see that as being blatant in the OU game. What most of you fail to realize is that a teamate is allowed to "push" defenders off the pile, even if that means the pile is pushed in the process. As far as the 12th man. Typically if the officials can get the count done before the snap they will shut it down and penalize as a dead ball foul illegal substitution 5 yards. When you first count 12, you re-count. If during the re-count the ball is snapped it becomes a live ball foul for illegal participation 15 yards. If the 12th player is running off the field at the snap and doesn't participate, then that would only be a live ball foul illegal substitution 5 yards.

For the Oklahoma fans who are flaming us, please note: You are wrong. This was not a dead ball penalty. A dead ball penalty in this situation is a five-yard penalty. Because the ball was snapped, a 15-yard penalty was issued. See rules 3-5-2-c and 9-1-4-b. Look at the video again. A 15-yard penalty was issued.

For the record, Im pretty sure that under the amazing frannie aggot (aka 12th man) has gotten a penalty for having 13, not just 12, but yes, 13 men on the field. That's assuming that you consider players for Texas A&M to be men...